Summary: Miss X complains the admission authority did not properly consider her request for her summer born daughter to delay starting school into Reception until after she reaches compulsory school age. The Ombudsman finds fault with the admission authority’s decision-making process. We have recommended the admission authority apologise and reconsider Miss X’s application.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the school did not properly consider her request for her summer born daughter, A, to delay starting school into Reception until after she reaches compulsory school age. She says the admission authority will allow her daughter to start in September 2021, but into Year 1. She says the school has not explained how entry into Year 1 in September 2021 would be in her daughter’s best interest.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. The Ombudsman cannot question a school admission appeal panel’s decision simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider if there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with the admissions authority’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I spoke with Miss X and considered the information she provided.
6. I considered the information provided by the school.
7. I sent a draft decision to Miss X and the school and considered their comments.

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What I found

School Admission Code

8. The parents of a summer born child may choose not to send their child to school until the September following their fifth birthday. Parents can also ask the school admissions authority to agree to admit their child to Reception year, rather than Year 1, at age five. This is known as delayed entry.
9. A parent cannot insist the authority admit their child to a particular year group. But, upon a parent’s request “the admission authority must make a decision on the basis of the circumstances of the case and in the best interests of the child concerned.”
10. The School Admissions Code sets out the matters the authority should consider when making a decision. This will include taking account of:

• the parent’s views;
• information about the child’s academic, social and emotional development;
• where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional;
• whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group;
• whether they may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were not for being born prematurely;
• the views of the head teacher of the school concerned.

11. When telling a parent of their decision, admission authorities must set out clearly the reasons for their decision.

Government guidance

12. The Department for Education has produced non-statutory guidance on this issue, ‘Advice on the Admission of Summer Born Children’.
13. The guidance says admission authorities must make decisions based on individual needs and abilities, and consider whether these can be best met by the child starting school in Reception or Year 1. They should also take account of the potential impact on the child of being admitted into Year 1 without first having completed the Reception year.
14. To make that decision the guidance says: “It is reasonable for admission authorities to expect parents or guardians to provide them with information in support of their request – since without it they are unlikely to be able to make a decision on the basis of the circumstances of the case.”
15. The guidance says that in general, children should be educated in their normal age group and only outside of their usual age group in very limited circumstances. However, it goes on to say parental requests for summer-born children are different from any other request for admission out of the usual age group. Parents should be confident that, if they decide to defer school entry, the decision about the year group they should be admitted to at that point will be made in the child’s best interests.

What happened

16. Miss X daughter, A, is a summer born child. She applied for A to be admitted to Reception in September 2021, rather than September 2020. The school is its own admissions authority.
17. In September 2019, the school rejected Miss X’s application as it said Miss X did not provide enough evidence to support a delayed start. The school offered for A to start in Reception in September 2020 part time. The school said this way A would be in her correct cohort. Miss X said the school did not provide reasons for why A was better off being in Year 1 rather than Reception.
18. In October 2019, Miss X complained to the Ombudsman. Near the end of October 2019, we referred the complaint to the school and asked it to respond to Miss X’s complaint in line with its complaint procedure.
19. In November 2019, the school provided a further response to Miss X’s request. The school said according to the Speech and Language progress report provided by Miss X, A had delays in social communication, understanding and use of spoken language, and delayed play skills. The school acknowledged the recommendation from the speech therapist for the continued support of the Speech and Language service.
20. The school said it was confident it could continue the work of the current nursery and support the recommendations of the speech and language therapist without a delay to A’s education. It said the school had specialist interventions to continue the support of A’s areas of development which will leave her best placed to enter a Year 1 cohort.
21. The school also said there was not enough grounds for an out of cohort placement. It said a placement outside a year group was highly exceptional and to place a child away from their peers would require the advice of an educational psychologist.
22. The school said if Miss X chose to delay A’s start until September 2021, it would admit her into Year 1.

Analysis

23. Parents of summer born children can ask for their child to start school at age five in Reception. However, the admissions authority does not have to automatically agree to the request. The admissions authority must decide if, after reaching compulsory school age, it would be in the child’s best interest to start in Reception or Year 1. The admissions authority must make this decision taking account all relevant considerations.
24. The school has showed some consideration of A’s individual needs and abilities. It recognises A does have some delays and that the speech and language therapist had made recommendations.
25. The school says it has specialist interventions to support A’s area of development. It also says it is confident it could continue the work of the current nursery and support the recommendations of the speech and language therapist. However, this does not explain why it is in A’s best interest to start in Year 1 rather than Reception.
26. There is also no evidence the school has considered whether A’s individual needs and abilities would be best met in Reception or Year 1. As part of this, the school should have considered the potential impact of A being admitted to Year 1 without first having completed the Reception year. There is no evidence the school has considered this.
27. While the guidance is non-statutory, we would expect the school to follow the guidance unless it has good reason for departing from it.
28. The school’s decision appears to be based on its belief that out of cohort entry is only for exceptional cases and that it needs the advice of an educational psychologist. The Admissions Code is clear this is not the case. The question the school must consider is if, after reaching compulsory school age, it would be in the child’s best interest to start in Reception or Year 1. The school is welcomed to consider the input of an educational psychologist, but it is not required to admit a child out of cohort.
29. The school has not set out its reasons for why it believes it would be in A’s best interest to start in Year 1 in September 2021. Therefore, I am not satisfied the school has properly considered whether it would be in A’s best interest to start in Reception or Year 1 in September 2021. This is fault.
30. I consider the fault identified has caused Miss X an injustice. This is because there is uncertainty as to whether the school would have agreed to her request had it followed the correct decision-making process.

Agreed action

31. To remedy the injustice caused by the fault identified, the school has agreed to complete the following.
• Apologise to Miss X for the fault.
• Reconsider Miss X’s application for delayed entry, ensuring the decision is made in line with the school admission code and government guidance.
32. The school should complete the above remedy within four weeks of the final decision.

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Final decision

33. I find fault with the school’s decision-making process regarding Miss X’s application for delayed entry into Reception. The admissions authority has agreed to my recommendations. Therefore, I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman